2005-06 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

On this date in 2005, Mario Lemieux suited up for the final home opener of his NHL career.

Being a part owner of the Penguins as of September 1, 1999 Lemieux realized that the Penguins greatest asset was - himself. He returned to the ice on December 27, 2000 and proceeded to score a goal and a pair of assists in his first game back. During the 43 games he played during the remainder of the 2000-01 season, Lemieux scored 76 points, the highest points-per-game average of any player that season, and led the Penguins to the conference finals.

The 2001-02 season saw Lemieux appear in only 24 games after his season was cut short due to chronic hip injuries aggravated while captaining Canada to the gold medal in the Olympics held in Salt Lake City. He would play in just a single game following the Olympics.

The following season would see Lemieux manage to play in 67 games and total 91 points, leading the scoring race for much of the year before missing most of the games near the end of the schedule and the Penguins would miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

He would only play but ten NHL games in 2003-04, with just a single goal to his credit. That fall he would make his final appearances for Team Canada, captaining the squad that captured the championship in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He would score a goal and four assists in six games played.

After the lockout season of 2004-05, he would return to the ice for the start of the 2005-06 season and skate along side Sidney Crosby for 26 games at age 40, before finally calling it a career on January 24, 2006. He would score 22 points in 26 games that season, but felt he could no longer compete at the level he was accustomed to in the past.

Today's featured jersey is a 2005-06 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemeiux jersey as worn in the home opener of his final season as an NHL player. The jersey features the NHL Cares/Katrina Relief Fund patch worn during the first period of each NHL team's first home game of the season.

The patched jerseys were then auctioned off to raise money to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, Louisiana in August of 2005. Lemeiux's game worn jersey generated the third highest final price league-wide with a final bid of $6,710 behind rookies Crosby ($21,010) and Alexander Ovechkin ($7,929). Overall the auction of 600 jerseys raised over a half a million dollars, which was then matched by the Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation.

Here is the beginning of Lemieux's second return from retirement on December 27, 2000 after becoming owner of the Penguins.

This video shows Mario Lemieux's final goal of his career after being high sticked earlier in the video along with a rare Ziggy Palffy sighting in a Penguins jersey, as he would retire mid-season along with Lemieux.

1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

On this date in 1989, Mario Lemieux tied the all-time NHL record for most points in a playoff game when he scored five goals and three assists as the Penguins outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers 10-7 in a wild, brawl filled shootout in Game 5 of the Patrick Division Finals.

Prior to the playoffs, Lemieux set personal records in goals (85), assists (114) and points on his way to the NHL scoring title, easily outdistancing Wayne Gretzky 199 points to 168, despite missing four games. At the time, his 85 goals were the third most of all-time and he became the third player ever to reach 100 assists in a season. Additionally, he scored 13 shorthanded goals to set a new NHL record. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of Lemieux's stellar 1988-89 season was joining the exclusive 50 goals in 50 games club, only the fifth player at the time to achieve the feat first accomplished by the famed Rocket Richard when he scored his 50th of the season in his 46th game.

Also during the same season, Lemieux had one of the most remarkable nights in NHL history on New Year's Eve in 1988 when he scored five goals - in five different ways! He started the night with an even strength goal and followed it with one shorthanded, on the power play, a penalty shot and capped off his amazing night with an empty net goal.

Lemieux celebrates his remarkable five goals on New Year's Eve

On the basis of Lemieux's brilliant season, the Penguins qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. The New York Rangers fell to the Penguins in four straight before Pittsburgh advanced to face the Flyers. Game 1 went to the Penguins at home 4-3 and then the Flyers took Game 2 by a score of 4-2. Pittsburgh fought back with a 4-3 overtime win in Philadelphia and the Flyers evened the series 4-1 on home ice to send the series into Game 5 tied at two games apiece.

Game 5, played on this date in 1989, started with a goal by Lemieux at 2:15 into the game. He added his second exactly a minute and a half later for a 2-0 Penguins lead and the tone was set when he completed his hat trick on the power play just 6:55 into the game to put the Penguins up 3-0!

Lemieux's hat trick in the opening seven minutes was just the beginning

After Bob Errey extended the Penguins lead to 4-0 just 12 seconds after Lemieux's third goal, the Flyers got on the board with a goal to briefly give them a faint glimmer of hope only to have Lemieux then tie an NHL record with his fourth goal of the period at 17:09 on a wraparound into an unguarded net after he stole the puck from Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall, sending the home fans into a frenzy. The Penguins added one more prior to the horn to head into the intermission up by a remarkable score of 6-1.

The second period was more of the same, with the teams combining for five more goals. The Flyers scored twice but the Penguins answered each time to restore their five goal lead. The Flyers frustrations then began to boil over, which included a misconduct penalty to Hextall at 12:55.

The Penguins extended their lead to six with their third goal of the period at 12:55 to give them a 9-3 entering the third period, but not before Brian Dobbin of Philadelphia received a match penalty for attempt to injure John Cullen during their fight at 17:03. Lemieux assisted on all three of Pittsburgh's second period goals to give him seven points on the night - so far.

The Flyers let the Penguins know they were not going to quit when they scored 48 seconds into the third period as they then staged a furious rally to close the gap to 9-7 with three more goals between 10:21 and 17:23 before Lemeiux completed his eight point night with his fifth goal of the night, to go with three earlier assists, at 19:23 into an empty net to seal the 10-7 Penguins victory.

The Flyers then began the "message sending" of the era with the game now out of hand with a fight at 19:44 and an all-out line brawl with only nine seconds remaining which included all the players on the ice, including the Flyers goaltender Ken Wregget, who got involved to keep the numbers even, as Philadelphia was shorthanded from the previous altercation.

Lemieux tied NHL records for most goals (5) and most points (8) in a playoff game as well as most goals in one period in a playoff game (4 in the first period) and most assists in a period in a playoff game (3 in the second period) that night.

The eight point night was the third of Lemieux's season, as he put up eight in the fourth game of the season and again on New Year's Eve, the aforementioned night he scored goals in five different ways. Lemieux remains the only player in NHL history to have scored eight points in a game three separate times, a feat he accomplished in a single season! It also remained the last time anyone scored eight in a game for 23 years until Sam Gagner managed the feat in 2012.

His eight points in a playoff game is one of only two times in history the feat has been accomplished and his eight points are tied for second for the most points ever scored in an NHL game behind Darryl Sittler's 10.

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey. as worn during Lemieux's record setting eight point night in the playoffs. This was the first season for this particular lettering style on the Penguins jerseys, as previous seasons had a different specification with a thinner number font, serifs on thicker letters for the names and sleeve numbers up on the shoulders, football style.

Today's video section takes a look at the Penguins - Flyers playoff series in 1989, which includes Lemeiux's historic eight point night in Game 5. Ah, Michael, Michael motorcycle!

Here is Rob Brown scoring the Penguins 9th goal, which sets off the always tightly-wound Ron Hextall. Lemieu'x assist o the goal was his 7th point of the game.

1988 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux Jersey

All-Star Week continues here at Third String Goalie with a look at the man who holds the NHL All-Star Game scoring record for most points in one game.

19 year old Mario Lemieux made his NHL All-Star debut as an NHL rookie in 1985 in spectacular fashion, scoring a pair of goals, including the game winner, and an assist in the Wales Conference's 6-4 win in Calgary. He was named as the game's MVP, the only rookie to ever do so.

After being named to the starting lineup, Lemieux was held scoreless in the 1986 NHL All-Star Game in Hartford, Connecticut.

 

1986 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

Lemieux was once more named to the starting lineup for the Wales Conference for the 1988 game in St. Louis, Missouri.

With the Wales Conference trailing by one, Lemieux picked up his first assist of the contest at 14:45 after setting up Tomas Sandstrom. With the Wales Conference trailing 2-1 after one period, they stormed back in the first half of the second period as Mike Gartner scored on an assist from Lemieux at 4:28. At 10:08 on the power play, Lemieux again figured in the scoring with the first assist on Peter Stastny's goal. He then equalled the record for most points in a game with his fourth when he registered his first goal of the game from Mats Naslund at 11:34. The Campbell Conference trimmed the lead to one with they got their third of the game at 15:09 as the second period ended 4-3 in favor of the Wales Conference.

The Campbell Conference tied the game at 5:19 of the third only to have Lemieux score at 8:07 from Naslund again and Kevin Dineen to establish a new single game scoring record with his fifth point of the contest. The Campbell Conference tied the game once more at 16:28 and the game then headed to overtime tied at 4-4 after 60 minutes of play.

Lemieux then increased his record to six points when he scored the game winning goal at 1:08 into the overtime to complete his hat trick, with assists again from Naslund and Dineen, with Naslund having the first assist on all three goals by Lemieux.

His record setting performance earned him his second NHL All-Star Game MVP award in just his third game.

After competing in the 1989 game hosted by Edmonton, Lemieux would play in front of his home fans in Pittsburgh in 1990, where he did not disappoint, tying the record for the Most Goals in a Single All-Star Game with four in the Wales Conference's 12-7 win.

1989 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

1990 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

Lemieux opened the scoring just 21 seconds into the game and scored his second at the 13 minute mark to make it 4-1 for the Wales Conference. Before the period was over, Lemieux completed another All-Star Game hat trick at 17:37 to make the score now 6-2.

Lemieux's record tying fourth goal would have to wait until the third period when he scored at 1:07 on an assist from Cam Neely to stretch the Wales advantage to 10-6 at the time.

He was naturally named the game's MVP for the third time in his career, establishing a new record.

He currently holds or shares four All-Star records with the Most Points in a Single Game with six in 1988, the Most Goals in a Single Game with four in 1990, the Most Career Goals with 13 and the Most MVP Awards with three.

The remainder of his All-Star career included participating in the 1992 contest in Philadelphia during the NHL's 75th Anniversary season which was commemorated by wearing throwback jerseys like those worn in the original NHL All-Star Game in 1947.

1992 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

He scored a pair of assists in Boston in 1996 and followed that up with two goals and an assist in San Jose in 1997.

1996 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

Playing for North America in 2001, Lemieux scored another goal as well as an assist in the North American's 14-12 win over the World team.

2001 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

His final All-Star Game goal came in 2002 in Los Angeles to give him a share of the career record with his 13th goal in All-Star competition.

2002 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey

Today's featured jersey is a 1988 NHL All-Star Game Mario Lemieux jersey from his record setting six point game which still stands today, 27 years later.

This style jersey was worn only in 1988. It used the same template of the jerseys worn from 1984 to 1986, only with the addition of the NHL shield as the crest rather than the Wales and Campbell designations as before. It also was customized with basic one color numbers rather than the two-color drop shadowed numbers as previously.

Today's video segment begins with Lemieux winning the MVP award in his first All-Star Game.

Next, Lemieux scores four goals in front of his home fans in Pittsburgh in 1990.

1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scored his 100th point of the season for the fourth straight year when he scored a goal in an 8-3 Penguins win over the Chicago Black Hawks on this date in 1988.

Also on this date, exactly one year later, Lemieux topped that feat by becoming only the second player in NHL history, after Wayne Gretzky, to score his 50th goal in less than 50 games in a 7-4 Penguins loss to the Winnipeg Jets in Winnipeg.

Lemieux's 50th goal came in his 44th game (officially Pittsburgh's 46th game) and made him the the Penguins all-time leading scorer with 637 points in just his 336th game, passing Rick Kehoe's 636 points, which took Kehoe 722 games to reach, 386 more games than Lemieux, considerably more than twice as many.

Maurice Richard was the first player in league history to attain 50 goals in 50 games in 1945. It would take 36 years for Mike Bossy to equal Richard with two dramatic goals in the final five minutes of his 50th game.

Gretzky joined the 50 in 50 club in grand style, requiring just 39 games when he scored an incredible nine goals in two consecutive games to reach the exclusive milestone before New Year's Eve. He repeated the 50 in 50 feat twice more, in 1983-84 in 42 games and again in 1984-85, which took 49 games, making him the only man to ever do so three times.

Lemieux would go on to finish the season with 85 goals and 114 assists for 199 points to lead the NHL in scoring that season to win his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy. His 85 goals made him only the second player to ever score more than 70 in a season. In addition, 13 of his goals were scored while the Penguins were shorthanded, an NHL record which still stands today, more than 20 years later and one of four offensive records Lemeiux still holds.

In addition to his 50 goals in 46 games, Lemieux's 1988-89 season is remembered for his remarkable game on New Year's Eve when he score eight points, highlighted by his five goals scored in all five possible ways, even strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot and empty net!

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey. Penguins jerseys were in a time of transition in 1988-89. Starting in 1984, the font for the names on the back now had serifs. The sleeve numbers were still located in the white shoulder area and both the names and numbers were heat sealed onto the jerseys with a plasticky material.

For 1988-89 the numbers were relocated farther down the arms into the gold area on both the home and away jerseys before a new set of jerseys later that season would see a new taller and thinner font for both the numbers as well as the names, which were now sans-serif. Additionally, they would be made of twill material from then on, which were now all sewn on rather than heat sealed as in the past.

Frustratingly, we could not find video of Lemieux scoring his 50th goal in 46 games, so in today's video segment, we feature Lemieux's Top 10 plays, as some of his assists are as spectacular as his goals.

The well trained eye will notice the numbers on his jersey changing places from the shoulders to the arms depending on which season the highlights are from.

Here are Lemieux's five goals in five ways from New Year's Eve in 1988. Notice the "hybrid" style of jersey, the same today's featured jersey, with the old serifed font for the name, but the numbers in the new lower position on the arms prior to the change in font to the shorter, more squarish style worn while Pittsburgh won their first two Stanley Cups in 1991 & 1992.

1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

Mario Lemieux debuted for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1984 at a time when the Penguins were playing to an arena that was half empty and subject to rumors of relocation.

He scored a goal on his very first shot in his very first game, and the Penguins were on the road to recovery. Lemeiux would go on to win the Calder Trophy that season and place second in the scoring race, while winning the Pearson Award in his second year.

His game reached the next level with his performance in the 1987 Canada Cup, when at age 21, he was able to play with veterans Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey. That experience launched his game to the next level and he won his first Art Ross Trophy in 1987-88 with 168 points, ending Gretzky's seven year hold on the league scoring title, as well as the Hart Trophy.

The following season was the greatest of his career, when he scored a career highs with 85 goals and 114 assists for 199 points and his second scoring title.

Eventually, the toll on his body began to affect him and in 1990 he had to undergo back surgery for a herniated disc, which caused him to miss 50 games of the following season. He would return to lead the Penguins over the Minnesota North Stars to the Stanley Cup Championship and win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

The following season he was limited to 64 games due to injuries, yet still won his third scoring title. Although a slash broke his left hand, which caused him to miss five games, Lemieux still led the playoffs in scoring and won his second Conn Smythe Trophy as the Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup.

In January of the following 1992-93 season, Lemeiux was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma and had to undergo radiation treatments to combat the disease, which caused him to miss two months of the season. On the last day of his radiation treatments, he flew to Philadelphia and famously scored a goal that evening after receiving a standing ovation from the notoriously hostile Philadelphia fans. He continued to score at a furious pace and won his fourth scoring title later that season with a remarkable 160 points in just 60 games. His remarkable return from cancer would be recognized with the awarding of that season's Masterton Trophy.

More back surgery awaited him in the off season, which would cause him to miss the first 10 games of the season as well as 48 more later in the year with more back problems. The combined effects of his back problems and fatigue from the radiation treatments caused Lemieux to announce he was taking the 1994-95 season off after making it into just 22 games that season.

He returned to the game of hockey for the start of the 1995-96 season after a 17-month layoff, and in his seventh game back on this date in 1995, Lemeiux would score his 500th NHL goal in just his 605th game, second only to Gretkzy's 575. He would finish the season with 69 goals and 92 assists for 161 points and his fifth scoring title as well as being named the winner of his third Hart Trophy.

Today's featured jersey is a 1995-96 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemeiux jersey as worn when Lemieux scored his 500th NHL goal, becoming only the 20th player in league history to reach that important milestone.

This jersey style was worn beginning in the 1992-93 season and was inspired by the original Penguins jerseys of 1967-68 which also featured the diagonal "Pittsburgh" cresting on the front and is one of our personal favorites here at ThirdStringGoalie with it's mix of modern styling with a classic influence. They would remain in use through the 1996-97 season until being replaced by then then alternate jersey for the following season.

Today's video section is Lemeiux scoring his 500th NHL goal against the New York Islanders on this date in 1995.

2004 Team Canada Mario Lemieux Jersey

On this date in 2004, Canada captured the World Cup of Hockey Championship with a 3-2 win over Finland in front of 19,370 fans at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

Canada began the tournament in the North American pool with a 2-1 over the United States in Montreal while wearing their 1920 Winnipeg Falcons throwback jerseys.

They came back the very next night, again in Montreal, with a strong performance in a 5-1 throttling of Slovakia thanks to a pair of goals from Ryan Smyth.

Canada captured the group on September 4th when they beat Russia 3-1, this time in Toronto to finish pool play undefeated.

With the top North American seed drawing the fourth place North American finisher, Canada was once again matched up with the Slovaks on September 8th in Toronto with similar results to their first meeting, as Canada again scored five times in a shutout victory to advance to the semifinals.

Their opponent would be the Czech Republic, the number 3 European Pool seed, surprising 6-1 quarterfinal winners over Sweden. In perhaps the best game of the tournament, Canada scored twice in the second period after a scoreless first before the Czechs got on the board before the end of the period. Seven minutes into the third the Czechs evened the score at 2-2. Canada got the go ahead goal at 13:47 only to have the Czechs shock the still celebrating arena with an equalizer a mere six seconds later.

Vincent Lecavalier then won it for Canada with a goal at 3:45 into overtime to send Canada to the finals.

In the Final, the Canadians and the Finns traded goals in the first period before Canada went up by one with a goal three minutes into period number two. The Finns scored a late goal at 19:00 of the second to send the tournament into it's final 20 minutes all even.

It would only take 34 seconds for Canada's to score on assists from Joe Thornton and Adam Foote to return Canada to the lead for the third time in the game. The Canadians would make that goal stand as Martin Brodeur would hold off Finland with ten saves to secure the championship for Canada.

Lecavalier would lead Canada in scoring with 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points in 6 games to earn tournament MVP honors. Broduer was named the goaltender of the tournament's All-Star Team following his goals against average of 1.00 in five games and a .961 save percentage. Foote would join his fellow Canadians on the All-Star Team at defense.

Today's featured jersey is a 2004 Team Canada Mario Lemieux jersey. Canada debuted this jersey style at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and it proved a very worthy look for an unprecedented era of Canadian dominance in international hockey, as both the Canadian men and women would win gold medals in 2002, the men would win the World Championships in 2003 and 2004, the women would capture the 2004 World Championship and the men's U-20 team would cruise to the World Junior Championship in dominant fashion in 2005 giving Canada the titles in all six major championships at the same time, all won in this style jersey.

Canada would later celebrate their lofty status by altering the outline of the maple leaf logo on the jersey's crest from silver to gold to remind everyone of their unprecedented dominance over the hockey world.

Today's video highlights are of Canada's victory over Finland in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey finals in Toronto.

1988-89 PIttsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

On this date in 1989, Mario Lemieux tied the all-time NHL record for most points in a playoff game when he scored five goals and three assists as the Penguins outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers 10-7 in a wild, brawl filled shootout in Game 5 of the Patrick Division Finals.

Prior to the playoffs, Lemieux set personal records in goals (85), assists (114) and points on his way to the NHL scoring title, easily outdistancing Wayne Gretzky 199 points to 168, despite missing four games. At the time, his 85 goals were the third most of all-time and he became the third player ever to reach 100 assists in a season. Additionally, he scored 13 shorthanded goals to set a new NHL record. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of Lemieux's stellar 1988-89 season was joining the exclusive 50 goals in 50 games club, only the fifth player at the time to achieve the feat first accomplished by the famed Rocket Richard when he scored his 50th of the season in his 46th game.

Also during the same season, Lemieux had one of the most remarkable nights in NHL history on New Year's Eve in 1988 when he scored five goals - in five different ways! He started the night with an even strength goal and followed it with one shorthanded, on the power play, a penalty shot and capped off his amazing night with an empty net goal.

Lemieux celebrates his remarkable five goals on New Year's Eve

On the basis of Lemieux's brilliant season, the Penguins qualified for the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. The New York Rangers fell to the Penguins in four straight before Pittsburgh advanced to face the Flyers. Game 1 went to the Penguins at home 4-3 and then the Flyers took Game 2 by a score of 4-2. Pittsburgh fought back with a 4-3 overtime win in Philadelphia and the Flyers evened the series 4-1 on home ice to send the series into Game 5 tied at two games apiece.

Game 5, played on this date in 1989, started with a goal by Lemieux at 2:15 into the game. He added his second exactly a minute and a half later for a 2-0 Penguins lead and the tone was set when he completed his hat trick on the power play just 6:55 into the game to put the Penguins up 3-0!

Lemieux's hat trick in the opening seven minutes was just the beginning

After Bob Errey extended the Penguins lead to 4-0 just 12 seconds after Lemieux's third goal, the Flyers got on the board with a goal to briefly give them a faint glimmer of hope only to have Lemieux then tie an NHL record with his fourth goal of the period at 17:09 on a wraparound into an unguarded net after he stole the puck from Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall, sending the home fans into a frenzy. The Penguins added one more prior to the horn to head into the intermission up by a remarkable score of 6-1.

The second period was more of the same, with the teams combining for five more goals. The Flyers scored twice but the Penguins answered each time to restore their five goal lead. The Flyers frustrations then began to boil over, which included a misconduct penalty to Hextall at 12:55.

The Penguins extended their lead to six with their third goal of the period at 12:55 to give them a 9-3 entering the third period, but not before Brian Dobbin of Philadelphia received a match penalty for attempt to injure John Cullen during their fight at 17:03. Lemieux assisted on all three of Pittsburgh's second period goals to give him seven points on the night - so far.

The Flyers let the Penguins know they were not going to quit when they scored just 6 seconds into the third period as they then staged a furious rally to close the gap to 9-7 with three more goals between 10:21 and 17:23 before Lemeiux completed his eight point night with his fifth goal of the night, to go with three earlier assists, at 19:23 into an empty net to seal the 10-7 Penguins victory.

The Flyers then began the "message sending" of the era with the game now out of hand with a fight at 19:44 and an all-out line brawl with only nine seconds remaining which included all the players on the ice, including the Flyers goaltender Ken Wregget, who got involved to keep the numbers even, as Philadelphia was shorthanded from the previous altercation.

Lemieux tied NHL records for most goals (5) and most points (8) in a playoff game as well as most goals in one period in a playoff game (4 in the first period) and most assists in a period in a playoff game (3 in the second period) that night.

The eight point night was the third of Lemieux's season, as he put up eight in the fourth game of the season and again on New Year's Eve, the aforementioned night he scored goals in five different ways. Lemieux remains the only player in NHL history to have scored eight points in a game three separate times, a feat he accomplished in a single season! It also remains the last time anyone scored eight in a game, now over 20 years past.

His eight points in a playoff game is one of only two times in history the feat has been accomplished and his eight points are tied for second for the most points ever scored in an NHL game behind Darryl Sittler's 10.

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey. as worn during Lemieux's record setting eight point night in the playoffs. This was the first season for this particular lettering style on the Penguins jerseys, as previous seasons had a different specification with a thinner number font, serifs on thicker letters for the names and sleeve numbers up on the shoulders, football style.

Today's video section takes a look at the Penguins - Flyers playoff series in 1989, which includes Lemeiux's historic eight point night in Game 5. Ah, Michael, Michael motorcycle!

Here is Rob Brown scoring the Penguins 9th goal, which sets off the always tightly-wound Ron Hextall. Lemieu'x assist o the goal was his 7th point of the game.

2002 Team Canada Mario Lemieux Jersey

It was on this date in 2002 that Canada won their first Olympic gold medal in 50 years with a 5-2 win over the host United States.

Canada started out their tournament on a down note, losing 5-2 to Sweden while wearing their alternate jerseys with the throwback logo. It would be the last time they would wear the jerseys, now classified as bad luck.

The scrutiny of Canada only increased after their next game, a narrow 3-2 defeat of Germany and the pressure intensified even further when their next game against the Czech Republic ended in a 3-3 draw, leaving Canada third in Group A with a dismal 1-1-1 record.

The Canadians drew the second place finisher in Group B Finland for their first knockout game in the quarterfinals and defeated the Finns 2-1 to advance to a dream matchup with Belarus, who had shocked the world with their stunning upset of Sweden.

Canada gained their place in the gold medal game by destroying Belarus 7-1, setting up a matchup with the host United States, who had defeated Russia 3-2 in their semi-final.

The Americans, coached by none other than the architect of the 1980 United States gold medal team Herb Brooks, were looking to win their third gold on home soil, as they had won gold as hosts in 1960 and 1980.

The United States broke out on top on a goal by Tony Amonte to electrify the home fans but then Paul Kariya scored just over six minutes later.

Jarome Iginla then added a second after less than four minutes had elapsed to take a 2-1 lead to whip the many Canadians in attendance into a frenzy of their own.

Brian Rafalski tied the score in the second after the Americans had killed off a two man disadvantage to give the Americans renewed hope, only to have Joe Sakic regain the lead for Canada before the period would end in what was shaping up to be a real classic.

Canada took the lead in the third period when Iginla got his second of the game with less than four minutes left to play and Sakic put the game out of reach with his second goal as well sending the Canadian contingent into pandemonium.

Following the game, the Canadians retrieved the Canadian dollar coin buried under center ice by ice maker Trent Evans. A dime was originally placed there in order to have a locator for the center ice dot and grew into a good luck charm, whose presence was nearly given away by the Canadian women's team following their earlier gold medal victory celebration three days before the men's final.

The "Lucky Loonie" was presented to Team Canada general manager Wayne Gretzky and given to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Canadian captain Mario Lemeiux had only played 23 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the Olympics due to injuries and a rest to fulfill his desire to participate in his only Olympic opportunity of his storied career. Once in the Olympics, Lemeiux would require pain-killing shots for his ailing hip. After the conclusion of the games, Lemeiux would only play in one more game for the Penguins before being shut down for the remainder of the season, but with his coveted gold medal in his pocket to soothe his discomfort and complete his resume as a player.

Today's featured jersey is a Nike 2002 Team Canada Mario Lemieux jersey as worn on the day that Canada defeated the United States 5-2 to capture their first Olympic gold medal in half a century.

Here are the highlights of the 2002 Olympic gold medal final between Canada and the United States.

Dasherboard: What a day of hockey yesterday. In the first game Belarus took Switzerland to a shootout decided by the narrowest of margins in favor of the Swiss, who now advance to face the United States today in the early game (NBC).

Canada predictably got healthy with a dominant 8-2 win over Germany, but that game was the last lopsided game of the day. Canada needed a game like that to put their less than stellar group stage behind them. It's a whole new tournament now that the elimination games have arrived and Canada will be looking to repeat their 2002 Olympics, when they also got off to a dismal start but got their act together in time for the playoff stage and marched to gold on this day in 2002.

Canada must now face off against Russia (CNBC) in a game many thought would arrive one or two rounds later than the quarterfinals before the tournament began. It's hard to imagine that one of these two countries will be shut out of the medals, but that's the situation they find themselves in. It's do or die time and the winner of this game will certainly appreciate having the day off tomorrow. Ratings for the marquee matchup between Sidney Crosby and rival Alexander Ovechkin should be the strongest of the day by far.

The scrappy Latvians once more gave one of the top clubs all they could handle yesterday. This is the kind of effort that Latvia is known for, particularly in the World Championships. Down 2-0 after the first period, the Latvians circled the wagons in the second and dramatically started to turn the tide of play in the third, coming up with a pair of goals four minutes apart in the latter half of the period to put a scare into the Czechs, who were forced to play the majority of the game without star Jaromir Jagr. The Czechs eventually advanced on a goal in overtime at the 5:10 mark. Had this been the group stage, overtime would have ended at the five minute mark and the game would have gone to a shootout.

The Czechs now must hope to have Jagr's services for their game today against Finland (CNBC).

Yesterday's final game had all the looks of a blowout as the Slovakians got off to a quick two goal lead by the halfway mark of the first period and countered Norway's first goal in less than a minute to take away any momentum that Norway hoped to carry into the intermission despite being out shot 21-2.

The second period was a different story however, as the shots on goal finished much more even at 13-10 for Slovakia, but the scoreboard was a different story as Norway evened the game with on goals by Tore Vikingstad, his fourth of the Olympics, and a dramatic buzzer-beater in the final second of the period to make it a 20 minute game and send Norway into the locker room on a high.

Slovakia went ahead on a goal by Miroslav Satan near the mid point of the period and held off Norway to advance to the final game today versus Sweden (CNBC).

The winners of today's games will all have a day off tomorrow, as the women's tournament concludes with the much anticipated Canada versus the United States gold medal game (MSNBC), and the tournament resumes on Friday with the semifinals.

One thing we must discuss before concluding today is the television coverage of Olympic hockey by the NBC crew. While they are doing fine job of covering the games, they are completely lacking in covering the event that is international hockey. That was never more apparent than during last night's Czech Republic vs. Latvia game from the UBC Thunderbird Arena when the CBC crew doing the broadcast actually showed some of the color an olympic hockey tournament, where thousands of fans wear their team colors, hundreds wave flags and dozens, if not hundreds, of crazies wear all manner of wild hats and wigs and face painting abounds.

During the previous group stage of games on NBC, CNBC, MSNBC and USA, I could count the number of crowed shots on one hand, while the director of last night's game from the Thunderbird arena slipped in shot after shot of supporters with their allegiances on full display, one of the most fun parts of any international tournament.

If this were ABC, we'd be sick to death by now of seeing the player's wives and girlfriends, but there's got to be a happy medium, and I encourage the directors of the broadcasts in the main arena to turn the cameras around now and then instead of showing yet another closeup of a player meandering into position awaiting a faceoff. You're showing the games alright, but you're missing the spectacle of thousands of supporters from all over the globe having the time of their lives, something truly unique about the international hockey experience.

1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux Jersey

In one of the most miraculous nights in NHL history, on this date, New Year's Eve in 1988, Mario Lemeiux of the Pittsburgh Penguins scored five goals - in five different ways!

Their opponents that night were the New Jersey Devils and Lemieux began is night in typical Lemieux fashion, skating down the right side and scoring an even strength goal at 4:17 of the first period to tie the score at 1-1.

His next goal came shorthanded, undressing Aaron Broten and deking Devils goaltender Bob Sauve for a goal at 7:50 with the Penguins a man down.

He was then set up on a power play by Paul Coffey at 9:46 with the Devils two men short, firing a one-timer for the hat trick, all in the first period.

With the Penguins being awarded a penalty shot after the second Devils goaltender of the game, Chris Terreri, threw his stick at the puck while in Lemieux's posession, Lemieux was naturally chosen to take the shot. He converted through Tererri's legs for his fourth of the game at 11:14 of the second, making him three for three in his career penalty shots at the time.

He concluded his magical evening with an empty net goal at 19:59 of the third, giving him five goals in five different ways, something likely to never be repeated any time soon, if ever.

Teammates celebrate Lemieux's spectacular performance

His fifth goal sealed the Penguins victory by a final score of 8-6 as Lemieux completed his eight point night, as he had already assisted on the three goals he didn't score!

Today's featured jersey is a 1988-89 Pittsburgh Penguins Mario Lemieux jersey. as worn on the memorable night during which he scored 8 points on 3 assists and 5 goals, each scored a different way.

This is the first and only year for this particular variation of the Penguins jersey, as the previous season the white sweaters had a gold collar for one season and the numbers were still located up on the shoulders. For 1988-89, the collar changed back to black and the numbers were moved down onto the sleeves, now contained inside the yellow area.

Soon afterwards this style Penguins jersey would undergo it's final changes, with the names on the back now being a sans-serif block font. In addition, the font for the numbers would change slightly, to a thicker font for the back numbers and the sleeve numbers getting noticeably more squarish when compared to the previous style.

Here they are, all five goals in five different ways on New Year's Eve in 1988.